We are persuaded that this is the right view. We are sure that one day we shall all see that Christ’s sufferings and death, and their influence, are as simple, as natural, as wholly in accordance with human nature, as that of any other saint or martyr; that the difference is of degree, not of kind; and Christ will go before the world, its great Redeemer and Leader, all the more certainly because one of us,—educated, as we are, by trial and sorrow; tempted as we are, but without sin; crying out, as we do, from the depths of our despair, “My God! why hast thou forsaken me?” and rising, as we do, through death to a higher life, through sorrow to a completer joy, through the pains of earth to the glories of heaven. “For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering; wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful High Priest; for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able also to succor those who are tempted. For we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, BUT WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED AS WE ARE, yet without sin; who can have compassion on the ignorant, as he also himself is compassed with infirmity, and though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things he suffered.” § 14. Results of this Discussion. The Orthodox doctrine of the atonement contains a fact and a theory which ought to be carefully discriminated. _The fact_ asserted by Orthodoxy is, that Jesus Christ has done something by means of which we obtain God’s forgiveness for our sins. _The theory_ attempts to explain what is the difficulty in the way of our forgiveness, and how Christ removes it. Thus Orthodoxy attempts to answer three questions: “What?” “Why?” and “How?” The first of these regards the fact. “_What_ has Christ done?” And the answer is, that he has brought to man forgiveness of sin. The second and third questions regard the theory. “_Why_ was it necessary for Christ to do and suffer what he did?” and, “_How_ did he accomplish his work?” Now, as concerns the matter of fact, Orthodoxy is in full accordance with the Scriptures, which everywhere teach that through Christ we have redemption, through his blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. But the Scriptures are perfectly silent concerning the theory. They do not tell us _why_ it was necessary for Jesus to die, nor _how_ his death procured forgiveness. The only exception is, as we have seen, in the statement, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the sufferings of Christ were necessary to make him perfect, and to enable him to be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.